


Summer Evenings and Mermaids

by humblenoodle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lifeguard Shiro, M/M, Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron), Shklance Summer Exchange 2018, his arm is pretty ambiguous, idk man, lance is a mermaid bitches, post season 6 shiro, send help, whats new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 12:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15315660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humblenoodle/pseuds/humblenoodle
Summary: Lance is just a little obsessed with humans, and it's totally that one guy's fault.





	Summer Evenings and Mermaids

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the lovely, [Ashes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshesTheTerrible/pseuds/AshesTheTerrible), whom I love with all me heart.
> 
> We need to talk more!!!!! 
> 
> Also I wanted to make this super good for you, but I lost track of time and panicked ajdiaed I'm so sorry. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy? :)

Lance will be the first to admit that he has a bit of a fascination with the beached, and that it's all the fault of one in particular.

Naturally, Lance was not at fault here; the beached man was just too handsome for his own good, and Lance was always one to appreciate good looking things. So the warm days were among Lance’s favorite, when the man would come out to the shoreline wearing scarcely a thing on his lovely body, and went around policing the other beached beings with a dazzling smile. No one even looked bothered when he scolded him, and, much as Lance’s own gaze, their eyes tended to travel _downwards_ rather than meeting his eyes.

Now, Lance will also be the first to admit to curiosity as to what was underneath those strange coverings he wore, but it’s only natural! Lance wanted to know everything about this man.

Unfortunately, there was no way for him to even get close, more or less actually interact with the guy. What little he’s gleaned about the beached has been through lucky breaks from his usual patrol, spending just enough time poking his head out of the water to watch with dreamy eyes as the white-haired man patrolled the shore before he had to return to his usual rounds. If anyone caught him watching, Lance would be immediately sent all the way back down to the colony when he’d busted his tail to get where he was in the first place.

The only person who knew about how bad his obsession went, was Hunk. Now, Hunk was a model mermaid - sensible, smart, quick-witted, with a healthy dose of fear for the beached. He did his best to keep Lance from being, number one, caught, and number two, from swimming right up to the shore on the slower days when the beached tended to avoid the tumultuous sea and meet the white haired man for himself. It was mostly a job taken in vain, but one Hunk also took quite seriously.

As such, Lance wasn’t at all surprised when a head popped up beside him, where he lay half-beached across a rock, but leaving his side gills safely under the water.

“He’s so dreamy,” Lance swooned. “If he was a mermaid, I’d be all over him in two seconds.”

“You’re already almost all over him,” Hunk pointed out, and gently eased Lance further back into the water where his scales didn’t shine so brightly in the blazing sunlight. “Seriously! You’re going to get yourself caught at this point! Your ear fins are visible from a distance, and none of them would be fooled for a second if they spotted you.”

“If they could catch me underwater, I’d deserve to be caught. Stop worrying so much, Hunk!” Lance shooed away his friend’s worrying hands, and propped himself back up on the rock. “None of them are even _looking_ this way, it’s okay!”

Hunk grumbled something nasty under his breath, but didn’t try to drag Lance back into the water, so he considered it a win. With a bright grin, he wiggled himself up a little further, to where his scales touched air for the first time in his life. Normally, he wasn’t so brave, but there were only a few beached along the shoreline, and Lance was desperate for a closer glance at the white haired man. Presently, he was with one of the small beached, rubbing this odd white cream into the girl’s tiny back, speaking in hushed tones with her.

Lance wondered how any beached could hear anything! Sound was just so much clearer underwater. If they would just go underwater, he could hear them fine! If he could just get a little closer - if he could just _meet him,_ Lance would be content.

“I’m going to go closer,” Lance announced, rather suddenly. He hadn’t been planning on anything, but now he had to do it; the curiosity was too much, burning him up from the inside out. If Lance doesn’t meet him, he might die! “Don’t wait up!”

“Woah, wait, what?! Lance, no! _Lance!”_

Ignoring his friend’s worried, frantic cries, Lance dipped back under water and shot off towards the shoreline, still shying away to the side where most beached tended not to frequent. There were plenty of rocks for him to hide in, there, and while he was easily able to maneuver through the maze, Hunk had a harder time. One benefit to being a smaller mermaid, even if everyone in the village mocked him for how skinny he was. At the very least, he could outswim them any day.

Finally, when the water was shallow and he was forced to practically crawl along the ocean floor in order to stay submerged, he carefully poked his head out from the water, vibrant blue ear fins perking up in fascination. Not a whole tail length away, sat the white haired male, where he watched the little girl run off, no sign of that white cream anywhere on her body anymore. Lance might have wondered more on it, though, if he wasn’t so fascinated by the sight in front of him.

Up close, the white haired man was even more breathtaking. Even sitting still, Lance could see how much power resided in his body. Scars rose along his otherwise perfect skin like a battlefield, but if anything, they added to that rugged beauty he naturally carried. Gray eyes practically _glowed_ in the bright light, accented by dark lashes that were too long to be legal. Lance’s mouth parted in awe the longer he stared, so captivated by the man’s looks alone that it took him several seconds to realize that those grey eyes had met his own.

Shock probably hit around the same time for them both. Lance instinctively ducked back underwater, which was utterly futile considering how shallow the water was, and knocked his head _hard_ on a smaller rock. Just as quickly as he went down, Lance fully sat back up, gingerly rubbing where he’d hit his head. The white haired man had moved over to where Lance was, looking baffled at both himself for approaching Lance (who’s forehead was now sluggishly bleeding), and the fact he was looking at a mermaid. Neither of them knew what to do, then, staring at each other with horrified, confused eyes.

“Uh, hi,” Lance croaked out. Which, great, this is his first impression and he sounds like a moron. Good going, dumbass. “Name’s Lance.”

A sharp, bright laugh tumbled out of the man’s lips before he even seemed to process the words. He shakily sat back down, half laying on one of his weird, split tails, with the other one propped up to the side.

“Hi, Lance,” he said, and oh _god,_ his voice was sending shivers down Lance’s spine, _fuck_ no one had the right to sound like that. “My name’s Shiro.”

 _Shiro_. That was an unusual name, but he supposed the beached have pretty different customs, and names by consequence. Lance liked it, though. It’s better than “Sexy Beast” anyway by far, although being up close definitely has not changed his opinion, just solidified it. Lance tried out his name, and nodded to himself when he liked the way it sounded, the way he said it.  

“Are… um, are you okay, though?” Shiro asked, his voice shaking only slightly. “You hit your head pretty hard there.”

Oh, right. Lance had basically forgot at this point, which he blames entirely on Shiro being so _distracting,_ god. Touching his forehead where he’d hit, his fingers came back with only a small ounce of blood, which he quickly washed away with a splash of water to the face.

“Yeah, I’m okay! Unless… unless we’re wounded with, um, something specific, our wounds heal pretty fast.”

“Our? There are more… mermaids out there?”

Lance grinned broadly, and flicked his tail idly behind him. “Definitely! There are thousands out there, though none as handsome of you, of course. I’m sure all the colony’s warriors would be jealous of you and those pecs.”

Shiro spluttered on another, startled laugh, coloring flooding his pale cheeks, and Lance couldn’t help but laugh along. It was surprisingly easy to talk with Shiro, honestly, and he found himself losing track of time as they spoke. Lance asked all the questions that had been burning his minds for months now, and Shiro asked anything that came to mind about mermaid society, which Lance explained to the best of his ability.

“I can’t believe you don’t call yourself beached,” Lance mused after Shiro told him that the beached were just called _humans_ _._ “Human sounds so lame!”

“I guess it does, doesn’t it?”

Also interesting to know, is that Shiro is what the humans call a _lifeguard_ _,_ and Lance had caught him right at the end of his shift. He kept all the other humans of all sizes from drowning in the sea. Lance told him they just needed to grow gills, but he has seen some skeletons before deep on the ocean floor suspiciously lacking a tail. It made a lot more sense when Shiro explained they weren’t on land because they didn’t _want_ to live underwater, but rather that they physically couldn’t.

When the sun was setting, Shiro announced that he did actually have to go home.

“You’ll be here tomorrow, right?” he asked, his grey eyes hopeful as they bore into Lance’s. “I’d… really like to talk to you again.”

Lance felt his heart do uncomfortable somersaults in his chest. “Y-yeah, I’ll be here! Same time tomorrow.”

The smile on Shiro’s face was totally worth the lecture Hunk gave him later.

**Author's Note:**

> I love mermaids, and if I'd had more time in my personal life, this probably would've been longer, but I genuinely wrote this today in 30 hot minutes so I'm sorry.


End file.
